


Wait For Me

by spoopylupin



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Inspired by Hadestown, Leo is Eurydice, M/M, Nico is Orpheus, Orpheus retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23420251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoopylupin/pseuds/spoopylupin
Summary: Nico wants nothing more than to bring Leo back from the dead, Leo wants to stay in the Underworld- AU where Leo actually dies in Blood of Olympus. This is an Orpheus/Eurydice retelling
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Leo Valdez
Kudos: 50





	Wait For Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published fic, so any constructive criticism is actively encouraged! but most of all, I hope you enjoy this fic, I really enjoyed writing it.

The path was beaten down and once black rock near the edge of a gaping chasm. Not that the intention was to be inviting, but it added extra caution into Nico’s movement. Having recently died, Leo wasn’t quite corporeal though he wasn’t ethereal either. The further away from Elysium he walked the more solid he’d become, though he didn’t feel like he was any different. Elysium, like its design, was an actual paradise for Leo. He hadn’t been there for long, but it felt more like home than Camp Half-Blood ever had, though he wasn’t sure if that was his genuine opinion or if it was part of living in the after life for heroes, after all whose idea of an amazing eternal death is missing where you were in life?

“why would you do that?” Leo asks, disbelief clear in his voice “you’re practically Hades’ lackey now, and for what?”. Nico was doing his best to imagine that the son of Hephaestus wasn’t behind him, it was all that was stopping himself from collapsing. Besides, it was better than acknowledging what else was clawing at his brain, trying to get into his consciousness. It was so easy to tell himself he wanted to do this for Jason, for Piper, for everyone. Deep down, he knew that wasn’t true but acknowledging that made him want to dive into Tarturus which just strengthened his resolve to never ever thing about it. Especially in front of wonder boy.

“I’m just going to die again, probably soon if the past is any indication. I’m a Greek demigod, everyone knows my life isn’t supposed to be long anyway” Persistence and resilience, hidden under piles of self-deprecation and humour, used to be qualities that Nico admired a lot in Leo, now he wished that he could force the Greek into silence for his own sanity. He’d only told one person that he was going to save Leo, and he was remarkably unenthusiastic about the idea. That person was Nico’s ex-boyfriend, Will, and had also tried to talk him out of it. He had known about the thoughts ripping, shredding at Nico’s mind and figured that going to the underworld would only exacerbate those thoughts, and the ghost king supposed he had to agree.

“I want to stay dead, Nico. There’s no one there waiting for me. I mean, obviously I have our friends, but they’ve mourned me, they’ll move on and continue to be happy. They don’t need me”” Nico was at his limit; he was just short of putting his fingers in his ear and singing ‘la la la la la la laaa’ to keep Leo from making him turn his head. He couldn’t tell if Leo was saying such incredibly stupid things to get him to turn around and give him a piece of his mind, but he also knew doing so would make him be lost forever. The scarier option to Nico, however, is that Leo truly believed this, that in his mind he really was better off in the underworld, that his friends would rather live without him than with him, strengthening his resolve to save him. He needed to prove that he was invaluable to the ones he loved. Nico never considered the ethics of saving someone who didn’t want to be saved. He knew the right thing to do would be leaving Leo in Elysium but he just couldn’t. He needed Leo in the living realm with him, he just did. 

“Shut up! I need to just…” Nico’s words trail as he stops walking, scrunching his eyes tight “… let me think” Nico’s thoughts were thoroughly scrambled now and he feared he’d never be able to untangle them. After a few moments of somewhat awkward silence Nico decided to rip off the truth like a stubborn plaster

“Leo, we need you” he didn’t feel ultimately changed by admitting this, but he hadn’t told the whole truth either. The group needed him but not nearly as much as Nico needed him. He plagued Nico’s every moment, especially those that aren’t spent awake. Being near him was the only thing that stopped the aching in his chest. When he had been dating Will any moments of intimacy or vulnerability had been plagued by the thought of the boy who was fiery in more than just personality... yeah, Nico definitely needed him most

“No you don’t, you have Percy, Annab-“

“You’re so thick sometimes” Nico says, frustration seeping into his voice “we need you” he repeats, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘we’. He hated how vulnerable he felt right now, but he knew sometimes you had to be open to keep people. Not being able to look at the Greek was almost worse; he couldn’t gauge his reactions, nor could he find comfort in his eyes.

Realisation crosses over Leo’s face almost immediately ‘oh… I’m sorry… I thought you were with Will?”

“No, he left me two weeks ago. feelings don’t just disappear. We have shared pain, that doesn’t just disappear” There wasn’t one moment that made him fall for Leo, but rather many small things. His ability to make him smile when that was the last thing on his mind, the way his hands moved quicker on his belt when he was nervous, how he put everyone else before him, always wanting what was best for others even it was at a detriment to him (though really that’s what got them into this mess, he really shouldn’t admire that anymore). Though really what had attracted Nico was that Leo could understand him more than anyone else he had met. They had both lost the people who meant most to them, they both had believed it to be their fault. They both have claustrophobia from being stuck in situations they couldn’t save themselves from but most of all they both knew what it felt like to be truly unwanted, isolated from those that they held dearest.

Leo made a noise of acknowledgement in the back of his throat “Dude, I don’t know what you want me to do with that information, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not leaving” he replies. He wanted to let Nico down easy, but at the same time he really didn’t want to. Sexuality was one of the boxes he’d been trying to tick off, but everything had become so hectic and it got lost under the pile of other things he had to do, other boxes to tick. He had a very real attraction to girls, that had not been an act even if it was exaggerated at times, but he’d be lying if he said that he never looked at Jason a moment too long while training, that he hadn’t stared at Percy when he was walking out of the lake. He had eternity to figure this out now, though, all the time in the world to tick off the rest of his boxes.

“Just let me save you!” Anger was rising inside Nico like a tsunami; retreating only to crash down onto an innocent village. He knew that Leo wasn’t going to hear a subpar confession of love – it wasn’t really a confession and it wasn’t love, though it felt like it could become it – and come running back, but that didn’t make the rejection sting any less. “I can take you back up there, I can give you your old life back”

“I don’t want it back, I’m truly happy down here, Nico… or at least I think I can be happier here than I could be up there” He hesitantly reaches out to take his wrist “please… I want to stay” To some it may seem like Leo was manipulating Nico, taking his recent confession and using it as a bargaining chip, and to some degree it was true. What is also true is that despite doing his best to ignore it Leo thought he felt the same about the son of Hades. Even if he hadn’t ticked the sexuality box, it was never something he would be bothered about if he liked a man since he knew that no matter what he wouldn’t be able to change it. Besides, before she passed his mother always taught him to be accepting and tolerant, not just of others but himself too. Under the belief that Nico was dating Will he had forced himself to ignore the way his heart skipped when he’d seen the boy smile, pretending that his red cheeks that arose from Nico patting his shoulder was from heat and not from the contact. He had been wanting to spend more and more time with Nico, to know every little thing about him, and it had been driving Leo crazy.

Nico freezes up a little, Leo’s touch not all there but sending fire through his veins all the same. “I can save you though…”. His thoughts drifted to Bianca. He had done everything he could to get her back, he would have done anything, but he had to let her go, she’d made him. Could he do that again? He knew there was more to consider, though, since Nico wasn’t the only one with ghosts. Esperanza was here, somewhere, and that would anchor Leo to the underworld and Nico could not blame him, he wasn’t sure he’d make the decision to leave either. Would it be right for Nico to force Leo to leave where he was most comfortable just because he wanted him back?

Leo moves his hand up to the Ghost King’s shoulder “It’s my time Nico… just one look and you can move on” Those words were surprisingly difficult to say. As much as he wanted to stay he didn’t want to see Nico go, to have actual confirmation that his time alive was over and he would not see his friends for the rest of their lifetimes, and maybe not even that. He had absolutely remarkable and kind-hearted friends but the judges were brutal and he couldn’t be sure that even they would get into Elysium. The fact that he had made it in was till insane to him. But he had to stay, this was where he belonged now, and he thought sometimes he could hear his mother singing if he sat on his balcony long enough.

Rationally Nico knew he just needed to look, to just turn around and see the ghostly form of the Greek, but he couldn’t, not yet at least. Instead he squeezes his eyes shut as he turns to Leo, his way of admitting defeat to the man “I don’t want to move on. Not from you. Not fully” Nico could tell he was being immature, irrational and somewhat unfair both to himself and to Leo, but he had been quite bad at holding his tongue when he was overwhelmed.

Leo did something that he’s been curious about for a while; He kissed Nico gently. It didn’t feel like much – Leo wasn’t human anymore, more an outline of one – but it was just as good as any kiss he’d felt, Leo’s lips being cool and almost silky against his own. Nico didn’t respond immediately, too startled to, before melting into the kiss as he was unable to ignore the tug in his heart. They were doomed from the start, but at least they had shared this.

“Move on, for me? We’ll meet again someday, I promise” Leo said gently, still holding his hand. Nico’s own hand had started to shake, the reality of what was about to happen catching up with him.

When Nico finally opened his eyes he couldn’t help but laugh in spite of the tears that were spilling from his eyes. With his free hand Leo had tensed his fingers and thumb together, the fingers facing opposite directions since they were split in the middle “Live long and prosper, Nico di Angelo.”

Those were the last words he heard from the other, dropping to the floor as tears forced their way down his face while the man Nico was so close to falling in love with dematerialised behind him.


End file.
